Albino vs Gladiator vs Surge vs Zebra

[casiosk1]

That's gonna leave a deutschmark....

[zvenx]

lol..speaking of which, how is the new library coming along Howard?

Great! I've been forced to improve my Zebra skills a lot this last year

so we 'heard' ... any eta?
rsp

[Nokenoku]

I bet most people here only rave about Zebra because the dev is a nice guy. I can't believe, that so many people are actually able to program that beast.
I find that most of the presets are boring and the interface is so confusing to me, that I can't do good ones on my own.

I don't know surge, but I find, that Gladiator and Albino are both very nice (while for me Albino > Gladiator).

[pdxindy]

Also agreeing about Z2 sounding "thin in a good way".

That is exactly what I like most about Zebra. I can make a simple 1 osc sound with no unison and it still stands on its own, yet without being obtrusive. I have various presets I have made with no effects at all and they are not lacking.

The full stereo path with good control over it and it is very easy to place a sound where I want.

[mellotronaut]

I strongly disagree with the above post that gladiator is only good for trance.

Agreed.
It is good for a lot more.
I think it is very trance orientated, not because of the synth design, but because of the developper's tastes (i think he likes tehcno and trance very much, and did not included many other genres in the preset bank, so the preset bank is more a mirror of the synth creator's tastes than the synth's abilities)

i agree: Gladiator is quite good for a lot of different purposes; i use it especially, when i need atmospheric sounds and textures. Markus seems to like T&T a lot or he simply thinks, Gladiator would sell better with a lot of trancey presets on board and a lot of trancey-stuff in the demo-mp3. I don't think, he's right, but

m

[pdxindy]

I bet most people here only rave about Zebra because the dev is a nice guy. I can't believe, that so many people are actually able to program that beast.

heh... I bet most people who find the GUI hard to figure out get lost in modularitis and start using too many modules and complex routing.

I have more fun programming Zebra than any other synth. It is clear and logical, simple when you want it so, and yet I rarely ever find myself wanting to do something a bit out of the ordinary and unable to. Zebra delivers!

[Timfonie]

That's gonna leave a deutschmark....

I'm afraid neither Urs nor Howard will accept that currency anymore

[mellotronaut]

I bet most people here only rave about Zebra because the dev is a nice guy.

He's a nice guy indeed and we shouldn't underestimate the 'Kuschel'-factor, but the main selling point is the value for money, we get with Zebra 2.

I can't believe, that so many people are actually able to program that beast.

Why not, there are templates and it's possible to make simple things first and dive into it later step by step.

I find that most of the presets are boring and the interface is so confusing to me, that I can't do good ones on my own.

I like the Howard-stuff a lot: one of the best sound-sets, i know: quite balanced and instructive (and witty (Underwood e.g.)).
The interface couldn't be clearer; there is a great introduction-video from Urs, which explains the basics quite well.

m

[justin3am]

I bet most people here only rave about Zebra because the dev is a nice guy.

On the contrary, Zebra makes more sense to me than any other synth. It's definitely a tweaker's synth but since only the parameters that you are using are available at a given time the complexity is not cluttered at all. My beliefs aren't popular around here but I don't put a lot of stock in synths having inherent quality. The way I define the quality of a synth is by how close I can get to the sound I'm imagining. From this perspective, quality isn't just about the sound but how easily I can get there and how the controls respond vs. how I expect them to. In this regard, I can say that Zebra is the perfect synth for me, but at the same time I can also say that anything from my Doepfer modular to my Casiotone MT-45 is a quality synth (and I do so without irony) from my perspective.

Which comes to my point, if you're a tweaker or a preset user, choose a synth by how close it gets to the sounds that you want and how easy it is to achieve those sounds. For you it may not be Zebra, it might be Rapture or Tera or Surge but that isn't something anyone can tell you. Don't believe the hype.

[zerocrossing]

I bet most people here only rave about Zebra because the dev is a nice guy.

So not true. I started out of the gate as a huge Zebra fan before I knew anything about Urs. Also, while it's nice to like the person you buy from, and customer service is important, it wouldn't cause me to hype their product if I didn't truly believe in it. Frankly, I met Robert Moog once at Cornell university and he was a total dick (to someone else, not me), but that would not stop me from praising his products.

[casiosk1]

That's gonna leave a deutschmark....

I'm afraid neither Urs nor Howard will accept that currency anymore

shitflaps

[Nokenoku]

Well .. could maybe someone post the link to this Youtube video tutorial then?
I start feeling stupid for not getting into this synth.

[zerocrossing]

Well .. could maybe someone post the link to this Youtube video tutorial then?
I start feeling stupid for not getting into this synth.

You should feel stupider for not going to http://www.youtube.com and searching for Zebra 2 tutorial U-he

[xx JPRacer xx]

Well .. could maybe someone post the link to this Youtube video tutorial then?
I start feeling stupid for not getting into this synth.

Here it is :

lococarlos already posted it on the 1st page.

[casiosk1]

Well .. could maybe someone post the link to this Youtube video tutorial then?
I start feeling stupid for not getting into this synth.

Here it is :

lococarlos already posted it on the 1st page.

Listen for Urs saying "vintage modular blubbery thing." I laughed a great deal.